


Slip of the Tongue

by love_in_the_stars



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game)
Genre: Dinosaurs, M/M, Smitten!Loki, cat!Loki, pining!tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 13:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10412841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_in_the_stars/pseuds/love_in_the_stars
Summary: Tony happens to bear witness to one of Loki’s spells gone wrong, now he has to take care of this adorable black cat with an attitude problem. Surprisingly enough, Tony has absolutely no problem with this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is pure self-indulgence. I wanted Academy Tony taking care of kitty!Loki so I did it myself.

Tony is at the Archives in the middle of a studying binge when Loki appears. He doesn’t say anything to the other teen but then Tony barely even notices him enter. The sounds of Loki practicing spells from the row of magical books behind him are slightly distracting but once Tony adjusts to the mage’s presence it’s pretty easy to tune him out and get submerged in his work again.

Time passes without notice, as it always does when Tony is focused on his work. He’s actually beyond the eight hour goal he set for himself when there is a whooshing of green magic that lights up the whole Archive from behind him and Tony blinks . He looks up from his book and yawns before turning to look at what Loki has done this time.

When all he sees is a pile of green clothes and Loki’s staff abandoned on the floor his breath catches. “Loki?” He calls after a moment of nothing further happening. Tony really hopes the other hasn’t banished himself to some alternate dimension or world.

He gets up when there is no answer and sighs, moving to at least collect the clothes and staff before going to report this latest mishap. He and Loki may snark a lot but he definitely considers the mage to be one of his best friends, there is no way he can just let this go.

Tony kneels to scoop the clothes up when the pile moves and he freezes, breath held with anticipation. That’s when a black furred face peeks out from a fold of cloth and piercing green eyes meet Tony’s own.

Tony blinks and the cat blinks back at him, neither moving. After a moment, Tony takes a breath and sits back on his heels. “Uh, Loki?”

The cat just continues to stare at him and well, Tony would recognize that judgemental gaze anywhere.

“Let me guess, spell backfired?”

Green eyes narrow and yup, definitely Loki. “Hey, no judging here. You’ve seen some of my backfired experiments, I’ve got no right to judge.”

Loki flicks one ear at him that Tony correctly translates to mean ‘of course not, mortal’.

“Right. So, is this something we have to be worried about or are you just gonna poof back to your regular human shaped self eventually?”

Loki stares at him until Tony realizes his mistake. “Ah, right. Worried? Yes or no?”

A shake of that furry head has him releasing a tension Tony hadn’t even he was noticed carrying. He had been worried that whatever Loki had done to himself this time was serious. “Okay, that’s good. Want me to get you and your stuff back to your room at least?”

Loki stares at him until Tony frowns, uncertain what the issue is. “I mean, unless you don’t want my help?” He asks uncertainly. If that’s the truth it’s a little hurtful, he can’t deny that. He thinks they’re good enough friends by now to be trustworthy but maybe Loki really doesn’t see it that way.

When an answer isn’t immediately forthcoming, Tony takes that to mean he’s right and he shrugs to cover up the pain it causes as he gets to his feet. “Okay, no problem. I can get Wasp to give you a hand? Or Amora, maybe? I know you two aren’t like buddies or anything but maybe another mage can help you out?”

Instead of looking pleased with that idea, Loki shakes off the clothes and jumps to Tony’s feet, staring up at him expectantly.

Tony stares down at him equally expectant. “So, does that mean yes to Jan? I mean she’ll probably only take like ten selfies with you.”

He’s never seen a cat roll it’s eyes before but then Loki could probably do that in any form, even one without eyes at all. Although impressive, it tells him nothing about what Loki wants.

“What do you want, Loki?” He says, exasperated now.

Green eyes narrow at him again as Loki reaches up with his front paws to hook his claws into Tony’s pants at just under the knee and  _ meows _ . It sounds  _ adorable _ and it takes every bit of self restraint Tony normally doesn’t have not to coo. Instead he swallows it back and takes the hint, bending to scoop the sorcerer turned cat into his arms.

Loki is a warm, furry weight that Tony can’t help getting at least one stolen pet from before getting an irritated swipe from those same claws. He’s pretty sure he’s grinning like an idiot too but whatever, it’s not everyday he gets to cuddle with a Lokitty.

“Okay.” He says after getting Loki situated under one arm, “Let’s get going.”

Tony scoops the clothes up under his other arm and carefully picks up the staff with his free hand before heading out of the Archives.

Somehow they manage to get to the Maverick dorm without running into anyone and Tony’s pretty sure that’s to Loki’s relief but he knows better than to mention it. Instead he heads inside and then pauses.

“I don’t actually know what room is yours.” He says and Loki just wiggles until Tony sets him down again. Without looking at him, Loki takes off down a hall and Tony has no choice but to follow dutifully, still carrying the rest of his things.

Eventually Loki stops at a door that looks no different than any of the others and presses a paw to the door. It glows green briefly before opening enough for Loki to squeeze inside and Tony hesitates. If it were anyone else’s room he would have barged in already but Loki is a special case and Tony generally tries not to piss him off too much. He feels like Loki’s room is a place he’s not likely to be allowed inside.

He’s still debating what to do when Loki’s head pokes back around the door and stares up at him. It’s a look that conveys ‘why are you just standing out there like a moron’ with startling ease. Tony beams back at him and pushes the door open more to step inside, he feels ridiculously pleased to be allowed in.

Loki vanishes behind a different door further in, probably the bathroom, as Tony takes a good look around. It’s about what he expects from a place Loki would spend a lot of time. There is a lot of green and gold and the bed is a huge monster that takes up most of the room. The rest is wall to wall with bookshelves and books and items of all kinds that probably have some sort of magical significance.

Tony ignores the desire to poke through all the stuff, knowing that Loki wouldn’t appreciate it and if he touches something that curses him Loki is hardly in a position to help out. Instead he drops Loki’s clothes on the bed and sets the staff down next to the bundle.

He takes one last look around before directing a grin towards the other door, “Okay, Lokes. If you’re all set I’m gonna head back to the Archives to get my stuff. Do you want me to stop by later with something for you to eat?”

Loki doesn’t bother to answer but Tony isn’t fazed. “That’s not a no.” He sing-songs before heading out, careful to close the door firmly behind himself so whatever spell is keeping it locked can re-engage.

Tony’s grin doesn’t even falter when he checks the time off his phone and realizes if he doesn’t hurry he’s gonna be late for his appointment with Professor Pym.

\---

It isn’t until Tony is standing at the cafe that he realizes he has no idea if Loki can even eat normal human food or if he has to eat like a cat. In which case he has no idea what cats can even eat safely. So Tony takes five minutes to Google foods safe for cats and then narrows the choice for the day down to some lean deli turkey and a banana, both things he knows Loki kinda likes normally. After getting a weird look from the judgemental robot tending the cafe, Tony sets off for Loki’s dorm and hopes the mage is doing okay. He knows Loki is a shapeshifter by nature so he’s probably fine but Tony can’t help but worry a little. Loki can be...sensitive as much as he likes to pretend otherwise.

Anyway, he just won’t feel better until whatever happened wears off and his friend is back to normal.

Natasha is stalking something or someone from outside the Maverik dorm and gives Tony a suspicious stare as he approaches her with a large grin plastered across his face. But she doesn’t stop him or attack so he takes it as a win and slips inside the building quickly. It takes a moment for him to remember the way to Loki’s room but eventually he finds himself standing at the door. At first he doesn’t know if he should just knock or like yell through the door so he decides to do both.

“Loki? Can I come in?”

There is no response that he can detect so Tony gingerly tests the door but it doesn’t budge.

“Uh, I brought you food. I mean, if you’re hungry. It’s cool if you’re not though, I’ll just go.”

Still nothing and Tony heaves a gusty sigh. Honestly, he doesn’t even know what he expected in the first place. Loki is not a person to open up easily, especially if in a vulnerable position like being turned into a cat. Tony can only imagine how much that must suck.

The disappointment is still painful though.

Tony takes a step back and turns to head back down the hall when the door glows green, snagging his attention. It opens a crack and the smile that crosses Tony’s face actually hurts.

Mood now much improved, Tony nudges his way into the room and finds Loki on the bed, watching him with a distinctly haughty look. The clothes and staff are gone so clearly Loki is managing on some level, maybe he retained some magic? Tony decides against asking for the moment, instead grinning at the mage.

“Were you having a cat nap?” Tony teases as he hops on the bed beside Loki. The cat levels him an icy look. “Oh, sorry, is it too soon? My bad.”

Loki ignores his utterly insincere apology in favor of pawing at the paper bag that holds the turkey and the banana. Taking the hint, Tony opens the bag and takes out the turkey first.

“I didn’t know if you can eat like normal or if you have the delicate cat system going on or what so I just grabbed something Google approved for cats. Which apparently includes turkey and bananas and I know you like both so I figured it was a safe bet.”

Loki, who is already chewing at the turkey by the time Tony stops babbling, pauses to stare at him. The green gaze is very direct and Tony just kind of blinks at him, unsure of what’s happening. Though, the guy’s got some very pretty eyes on him that’s for sure. Even as a cat.

Eventually Loki looks away to continue eating but it leaves Tony feeling like he’s missed something. Instead of dwelling on it, he decides to lay down for a minute while Loki eats. The bed is very nice and Tony’s pretty sure it’s somehow better than his own, which probably has something to do with magic. Ugh, sometimes he really just hates magic. Especially when it makes better beds, like why is that even a thing. Totally not fair.

Before his brain can take him too far down the rabbit hole that is thinking about magic, Loki’s cat-shaped face is abruptly right in front of his own. Tony blinks and just, really wants to pet those dark ears all of a sudden. Loki moves away like he can tell what Tony’s thinking and bats at the banana before giving him a very pointed look.

“Right. Okay, sure.” Tony leans up to his elbows to peel open the banana but then lays back down to let the mage eat in peace. Though, now that he’s had the thought he really wants to pet Loki again.

Tony has always wanted a pet, especially growing up in the mansion when he was so often left alone and just lonely in general. Howard never allowed it of course, his father knew he couldn’t handle the responsibility of a living thing that he would have to take care of and Tony understood. It just didn’t stop the fact he yearned for years to have a companion. Knowing he shouldn’t have something doesn’t stop him from wanting it, he’s selfish like that.

He would have been an awful pet owner back then and probably not any better now, he knows that.

Tony stifles a yawn with one hand and lets it fall back to the bed, his whole body limp with relaxation and nearly asleep where he lay. Gradually his thoughts slow and his eyes close and when something soft brushes his hand he doesn’t think anything of it. He’s already asleep.

Loki is sitting with one paw on Tony’s hand, staring at the human’s face. With no one to see or judge the cat’s green eyes are soft and after a moment he moves to climb up on Tony’s stomach. He curls up on the spot and closes his own eyes, content in this moment.

By the time Tony wakes up again, Loki has moved back to the bed as if he’d never been sleeping anywhere else.

\---

After falling asleep in Loki’s bed like a weirdo, Tony expects the mage-cat to avoid him but instead Loki takes to following him around campus. Sometimes literally stalking him from the shadows and other times by demanding to be carried around with loud meows. Tony is not so secretly pleased by the attention and so always gives in, carrying Loki in his arms whenever it’s demanded of him.

Eventually Tony manages to learn that Loki has no idea when the reversal back to his normal shape will happen and that the spell was clearly faulty through no fault of Loki’s own. He mentions asking Amora or Strange for help with reversing the spell but the look Loki gives him at that informs him of just how much Loki does not want that.

He also learns that Loki’s magic was not lost with the shape change when Amora takes one look at them, starts laughing and Loki’s fur bristles with the static of magic as he launches a spell at Amora that ignites her hair with green fire. That was funny, the ensuing magical scuffle was much less so.

Eventually Loki is sick of being carted around like a sack of potatoes and takes to draping himself around Tony’s neck like a living scarf. He finds it is the perfect perch for pulling pranks on the other Academy students. Tony gets in more trouble in three days then he has in the last three months but he can’t find it in himself to resent Loki for it. Mostly because all the pranks are hilarious, even if no one else agrees.

On that fourth day of Tony and Loki being practically inseparable, Cap finally confronts Tony.

“What’s up, buttercup?” Tony asks when Steve stops him just outside the Archives.

Steve takes a breath and looks at Loki, who stares unblinkingly back at him, before giving Tony a smile. “Hey, Tony. I just wanted to check in, make sure you were okay.”

“Oh.” Tony is kind of caught of guard, he doesn’t know why Steve would feel the need to ask him that. “I mean, yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason. How’s Loki holding up? Any idea when he’ll be back to normal?”

Tony shrugs, mindful of Loki’s weight over his shoulders, “No idea. He thinks it shouldn’t take too much longer to wear off but he’s not sure.”

“Okay.” Steve nods, “And you’re sure you’re okay?”

“Steve, I’m fine.” Tony’s eyes narrow at the blond, “Why are you asking me that?”

Steve looks at Loki again and makes a vague gesture with his hands, “I’m just worried. You’ve been spending every day with him since it happened. I know you two are friends but it just seems…”

Tony’s brows rise in surprise, “Weird? Is that what you wanted to say? Steve, he’s a cat. There’s not a whole hell of a lot he can do like this. If he wants to spend his day with me and being lazy I don’t see why that’s alarming.”

“So you’re okay with it?” Steve asks, like he’s trying to verify something to himself.

“Yeah, obviously.” Tony can feel Loki’s fur bristling against his neck and a thought occurs to him. “Are you trying to insinuate that I’m not doing this of my own will? That Loki’s making me cart him around like a highly fashionable scarf?”

“Tony, no. I’m not saying he magicked you or anything, I just want to make sure he’s not taking advantage of you.”

Tony stares at him for a long moment. “Taking advantage? What does that even mean? Again, Steve, he’s a cat right now. I honestly don’t even know what we’re talking about anymore. I think this conversation is over. Okay? Goodbye.”

That said, Tony turns from Steve and stalks away. He’s just a little mad at the captain’s audacity and says as much to Loki, who looks no more pleased than Tony feels.

“Honestly, what did he think was going on? You’re not brainwashing me or anything so I really don’t understand. Why would he think that anyway? What, does he think you’d normally want nothing to do with me unless I was a mind slave or something?”

Tony pauses in his angry stomping to look at Loki, “I mean, we’re friends, right?”

With Loki on his shoulder and Tony turned toward him, they’re faces are close and Loki’s eyes hold his own easily. After a moment, Loki reaches out and bops Tony on the nose with a paw, all without breaking eye contact. It startles Tony and he involuntarily blushes, quickly looking away.

“Right. Totally friends.” He mumbles, unable to hide the pleased smile.

Under his ear, Loki starts to purr.

\---

After day four, Loki starts to let Tony pet him whenever they’re alone and no one can see. Tony is pretty sure he’s never been this giddy in his life.

\---

Day six brings with it an attack on the Academy and Tony has to leave Loki in his dorm room while he takes to the sky to deal with giant dinosaurs that emerged from the time fog. It pains the scientist in Tony to have to kill these long extinct creatures but they’re wrecking the Academy with relative ease and well, this place is his home now.

So, he takes down pteranodon and other winged dinosaurs that he doesn’t even know the name of while Strange and Amora argue over how to handle them. From what Tony has overheard Strange wants to open a portal and send them back to a more appropriate time and Amora wants to let everyone else handle them. No surprise there, the sorceress never lends aid unless it benefits her in some way.

Still the longer they argue the more wrecked the Academy is getting until finally Steve butts in and tells Strange to do what he needs to do. While he gets started on whatever magic he needs, Tony notices a particularly large dino with some monster teeth heading in the general direction of the Maverick dorm. A quick assessment shows that Tony is the closest one to intercept.

“Falcon! Three fliers coming your way.” Tony warns as he abandons his current fight to chase after the bigger dinosaur.

“Copy that.”

“Got a big guy headed for a dorm if anyone wants to give me a hand here.”

Steve’s voice is the one to answer him after a minute. “No one else is available right now, just keep it distracted. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Roger that, Rogers.” He may not be able to hear it but Tony will bet all his money that Cap is sighing right now.

“All right.” Tony fires a pot shot at the huge gray creature and it turns to roar at him. “Time to play tag with a T-Rex.”

\---

Tony might have called this thing a T-Rex for lack of knowing exactly what it is but whatever the hell it is, it’s fast and it hits hard. The long, whip-like tail has knocked him right out the sky more times then Tony is comfortable with and for all that his own hits are doing some damage the armor is currently taking more than the dinosaur.

A quick twirl barely gets him out of the way of that tail swiping by again and Tony shoots up high to get a minute to reassess. As much as he hates to say it he’s not getting this thing down on his own.

“Uh, Strange? What’s the time on that portal?”

“I need a few more minutes. Finding the correct time period is proving to be a bit of a challenge.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“Steve, what’s your ETA? This thing is being a bit of a bitch.”

The captain’s answer is nearly drowned out by the scream of what sounds like a bunch of smaller dinos coming through his comm. “Language Tony, I’m working on it. I’ve got you in sight, just a few minutes.”

“Always with the ‘language, Tony’, I bet he curses more than the rest of us in that patriotic skull of his.” Tony mutters to himself before noticing that his adversary has been getting entirely too close to the dorm while he was taking a break.

With Loki taking refuge there in his cat form, there is no way Tony can let that dinosaur wreck the building. Time to get a little more crap kicked out of him.

He swoops back out in front of the dino’s face with all those nasty teeth and when it roars at him, Tony shoots a missile into its mouth and darts away again. When it explodes the dinosaur totters on its feet and roars again, this time sounding distinctly pained.

“Aww, yeah! Point to Iron Man! Come on, big guy, let’s dance.”

Just as he’s savoring this minor victory, his HUD directs his attention to a small black form on the roof of the Maverick dorm. In dismay, he turns that direction to get a closer look and maybe rule it out as Loki being an idiot and watching the fight from a vantage point.

While he’s distracted the enraged dinosaur takes the opportunity to get close and swings it’s tail at him with full force. His alarms are screaming by the time it impacts but he doesn’t even time to brace himself. All the other hits from that tail had been glancing, nearly avoided blows because Tony had been wary of it from the start.

This is dead on, critical hit and Tony is smashing into the roof of the dorm with no idea of what just happened to him other then it hurt like hell. While dust and debris settles around the armor, Tony just tries to breathe as the armor runs a sluggish diagnostic report. The fact it hasn’t finished by the time he catches a half decent breath is a bad sign. Everything hurts so much he can’t even tell if he’s injured but sound is still filtering through the armor just fine and the loud stomping of a something big and angry drives Tony to force the armor into moving. He pushes the pain down and to the back of his mind as best he can, focusing instead on getting visuals on either the dinosaur or Loki.

Loki was on this roof when he crashed he’s certain of it and he needs to make sure the idiot mage is okay.

He forces the armor into getting him on his feet just as the wind picks up and the dust from his crash is blown away. Just on the outer edge of his impact crater is a small furry black cat staring at him with wide green eyes and not even the armor can stop his staggering when the relief hits.

Tony activates the suit’s external speakers when the faceplate refuses to budge. “Loki, shit, are you okay?”

He looks fine, his fur doesn’t even have any dust and Tony kind of wants to kill him.

“I hope you know I am officially mad at you. Hanging out up here while there is a bunch of killer dinosaurs stomping around is a fantastically stupid idea and coming from me, that’s really saying something.”

Loki meows at him and while it doesn’t sound even the slightest bit remorseful it does sound worried. Somehow. But before he can reassure his friend that he thinks he’s fine the giant dinodouce that knocked him out of the air like he was particularly annoying fly is looming above the dorm and it doesn’t look any less pissed off for it.

Luckily his armor has finished the diagnostic, unluckily he’s got flight and not a whole lot else. Time to scoot.

Tony fires up his boots, grabs Loki and takes to the sky. He’s too slow though and the dino manages to smack him again, this time with a clawed forearm. He catches a glimpse of the HUD telling him of a suit rupture before Tony’s hitting ground yet again. Surprisingly though, the landing isn’t too bad which is good considering he’s got a rather fragile cat as cargo. When he opens his eyes to take stock and check that Loki is alright all he can see is the color green.

Apparently, Loki used his powers to cushion their fall and form a shield around them. Tony kind of forgot he could do that.

“Good kitty.” Tony mutters and then immediately hopes Loki didn’t hear him.

He has no plans to take bets on how long that shield will last against an angry dinosaur though, so he tries to straighten from his position curled around Loki and fails. A sharp burning pain worse than his last impact makes him whimper and freeze in place. The HUD message of the armor rupture pops up again and it takes a moment for Tony to understand what it’s telling him.

Once it processes he can’t help but try to look, to make sure its right.

Loki is making noise but Tony ignores him to push through the pain and turn his head down at himself. Behind Loki, who is wiggling in his arms and hissing, there are three ragged tears in the armor over his side. Blood is running freely from all of them and it’s even soaking into Loki’s fur from the gravity of Tony being on his other side.

Okay. Yup, that’s bad. Exactly like the armor told him.

Loki finally squeezes free from his grasp just as the dinosaur starts hitting their shield with its tail, seemingly puzzled with the resistance. Something tells Tony it’s gonna start getting pissed off real quick though.

“Loki.” Tony says, trying to catch the cat’s attention. “That shield isn’t going to last long, is it?”

His head shakes a negative and taps a paw at Tony’s faceplate like he wants it gone.

“Sorry, mechanisms are busted, it’s stuck.” Green eyes narrow as Tony actives his comm and calls out for Steve. The dino is clawing at the barrier now with both front arms and snarling.

“Tony! I saw you go down, are you alright?”

“Not so much, Cap. Please tell me you can get here in the next sixty seconds.

“No, I’m sorry, I got pushed back. Strange, is that portal ready, Iron Man is down.”

“I’m forming it now, Captain but the creatures will have to be physically forced through.”

The muttered response of ‘shit’ from Steve’s side of the line isn’t quiet enough and it brings a smirk to Tony’s face. “Language, Cap.”

“Can anyone get to Iron Man’s position? We need an immediate evac!” The way his voice picked up instead of responding to the tease makes Tony think maybe he sounds worse off then he thought.

As the rounds of negatives come through, the dinosaur switches to chewing at the shield with those massive teeth, drool sliding over the magical surface. In fact, Tony can see that the barrier is now trembling, wavering under the assault.

They’re out of time.

“Sorry, Cap, gotta go. Someone better hurry though because we’re gonna be dino-chow real fast.”

“We? Tony, wait!”

Tony kills the comm even as Steve protests, it’ll be better then the team hearing what’s about to happen. He needs to get up though because there is no way in hell Tony is going to die sitting on his ass. The act of just rolling onto his back hurts like a mother and yanks a long whine of pain from him that has Loki hissing at him. Loki jumps onto his chestplate as if to keep him from moving and swipes at his helmet with a paw that is glowing green.

Tony closes his eyes out of instinct but the weight of the helmet just disappears and when he reopens his eyes Loki is right up in his face.

“Hi.” He says, dumbly and Loki’s whiskers twitch in a way that Tony decides is amusement.

“So, uh, any ideas?”

Loki’s eyes roll and he pats Tony’s cheek in a way that is distinctly patronizing.

“Oh, you got this, huh?”

Over their heads the dinosaur’s teeth are sinking through the barrier and it flickers for just a moment. The sight raises fear with a quickness that leaves Tony dizzy or maybe it’s the bloodloss doing that.

Loki meows demandingly at him until Tony tears his eyes away from their impending death and then gently presses his nose to Tony’s. Tony blinks in shock, especially when he notices that Loki’s eyes are closed. This moment feels important and Tony doesn’t dare breathe.

But then the barrier shatters abruptly and Loki’s eyes snap open as he whips around to bound off Tony to the ground in front of him. In front of the huffing dinosaur that stands so much taller and bigger that the sight of Loki defying it would be funny if Tony wasn’t so utterly terrified.

The creature roars down at them, mouth open wide and teeth a very real display of threat.

Loki’s back arches in response, fur bristling as sparks of green magic dance over his small form. Then the glow starts to brighten, growing stronger and expanding outward from Loki’s body and just as the dinosaur is swooping down to eat Loki whole, the magic explodes.

Tony gets the impression of giant teeth over Loki’s furry ears when everything just...goes away.

\---

At some point Tony wakes up to a world of red hot pain and immediately wishes he hadn’t. He can barely feel the soft fur beneath his hand, purring steadily in a way he thinks distantly is familiar but then everything fades again and he forgets.

\---

When he wakes, he’s at Stark Tower medical and nothing hurts. He’s also alone but that’s less surprising than the fact he woke up at all. A look around shows that Tony’s not even hooked up to any machines and curiosity is just killing him. He wiggles around to sit up and discovers that while he’s not in pain he is certainly sore. He’s also dressed in a black shirt and his favorite pair of jeans and how did that happen?

Tony takes a breath and lifts the hem of the shirt to peer down at his side. There are three healed slashes across his ribs and side that look like they were probably pretty nasty.

How long has he been out? Was Loki okay?

He’s just decided to get up and get some answers when the door opens and Loki freezes in the doorway. And it’s human shaped Loki at that, wearing his usual green, black and gold ensemble. For a moment they just stare at each other but then Tony grins.

“You’re okay!”

Loki smirks back at him, “At no point was I worse off then you.”

“Well, you were a cat for like a week.” Tony teases, drawing whiskers over his own cheeks with two fingers.

“And yet I still beat the dinosaur that nearly killed you.”

“Only because you still had your magic! Not that I’m complaining, of course.” He says, too pleased that they both survived and Loki is back to normal to argue too much.

“Of course.” Loki repeats before finally stepping further into the room. Now that he’s here Tony relaxes back on the bed again.

“I am still mad at you though.” He says and Loki gives him a haughty look in return as he settles himself onto the foot of Tony’s bed without asking.

“Why would you be mad at me? I saved your life, Stark.”

“Yup and trust me, I am quite grateful for that. But, you wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t been on the roof of the dorm and distracted me in the first place.” Tony crosses his arms over his chest to channel his best ‘disappointed in you’ Captain America face.

Loki frowns and lifts his hand in a shrug, “Why did that distract you? I was fine.”

“I didn’t know that! I thought some pteranodon was gonna swoop down and snatch you up or something.”

The frowns smooths out to a blank face as Loki stares at him and Tony just stares back, not willing to back down. Then the dark haired sorcerer slowly smirks and Tony’s heart kind of skips for a second, his guard instantly going up at that expression.

“You were worried about me.” Loki says, no purrs, at him. The words are all low and suave and rumbly and Tony blushes completely against his will.

“No!” Tony blurts but the other’s green eyes just grow even more smug and he heaves a sigh. “Okay, fine, yes! Maybe!” He then throws his arms out in exasperation.

“Can you blame me? You’re like one of my best friends and I thought you were gonna get eaten or something, okay?”

To his surprise, Loki’s expression softens, the smirk falling to a more genuine smile. “I appreciate the thought, Stark. For all the trouble it got you in.”

“Yeah, about that. What happened?” Tony finally asks, gesturing toward himself and the room in general.

“Well.” Loki crossed his legs on Tony’s bed and leaned back on his hands. “I banished the creature with a spell of my own and then used quite a few more spells on you just to keep you alive until America Man arrived. Someone else took care of you from there. Then Mister Weirdo and the others took care of the rest of those creatures.”

“But how long was I out? Because I seem to be pretty well healed after something like that.” Tony plucks at his side of his shirt to emphasise.

Loki shrugs in a suspiciously lofty way that Tony in no way misses. “Oh, a few days. My spells did most of the work so you didn’t need too much help from the other mortals.”

“Thank you, Loki.” Tony says, he can guess just how much he’s downplaying the whole thing to seem less caring.

“Yes, well, you served me decently while I was in the other form. I figured you’d be of more continued use to me alive.” Loki says, his gaze directed at the window on the other side of the room.

Tony absolutely can’t help the fond smile he knows is on his face but Loki isn’t looking at him anyway so it’s fine.

“Oh, that’s right. When did you turn back?”

“Hmm, the day after the creatures attacked. Turns out that particular spell has a seven day longevity.”

Thinking of those days with a Lokitty shadow makes Tony feel kinda sad, in afterthought. It had been nice having someone around so much, especially when that someone was Loki even if he was in a different form. Tony twists his fingers in the bedsheet and takes a breath.

“You know, I’m kinda gonna miss having you around. Even with all the hair you shed on my clothes.” He can’t quite bring himself to look at Loki as he speaks.

There is a silence where they both don’t look at each other before Tony sees Loki shrug slightly from the corner of his eye.

“I admit that I may have enjoyed our time together as well.”

Tony starts to grin even as he says, “Well, maybe we can go out sometime? You know, without one of us dying or the other being stuck in an animal form.”

That gets him a huff but when Tony looks up Loki is smirking. “Sure, Stark. Let’s traumatize America Man even more.”

His own laugh catches Tony by surprise but Loki just looks pleased and when he’s finished Tony smiles at Loki helplessly. “Yeah, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

Tony throws the blankets off to stand when Loki shifts and catches him by the wrist. He pauses and lets the sorcerer tug him closer across the bed until Loki is right up in his face. Loki’s eyes are bright and they hold all of Tony’s attention.

Loki kisses him quickly, says, “Club A. Don’t make me wait.” and vanishes. Tony had stopped breathing when Loki moved and doesn’t start again until the young god is long gone. His mind is reeling and he feels weak so Tony collapses onto his back on the bed and just lays there. He lifts a hand to his mouth and realizes he’s grinning like a crazy person.

He’s in a room all by himself so Tony throws his hands into the air and gives an inarticulate squeal followed by:

“I have a date! With Loki! Whooo, yes!”

\---

Outside the door, Loki covers his smitten expression with a hand and actually teleports away this time. He has a date to get ready for after all.


End file.
